1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, especially for a device displaying pictures by sequentially executing an address period and a sustain period, such as, a plasma display panel (PDP).
2. Description of the Related Art
A panel driving timing can be divided into a reset (initialization) period, an address (write) period, and a sustain (display) period. In the reset period, all the cells in the panel are initialized so that each of the cells can be properly addressed. In the address period, wall charges are accumulated on cells to be lit from a panel. After addressing all the cells of the panel, in the sustain period, a discharge for picture display actually takes place on the addressed cells simultaneously. Such a driving method is well described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,618.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,618 discloses a method for driving a PDP that performs an address operation and a sustain operation separately in time, when displaying a gradation using a sub-field scheme within a frame. In other words, after all scan electrodes are completely addressed, a sustain operation is executed concurrently on all the pixels. According to this driving method, a sustain-discharge operation does not start until the last scan line finishes an address operation. This wastes significantly long time until a sustain discharge occurs on the addressed cells, which may cause an unstable sustain discharge.